Michael Chidester: Bellifortis

Kats, poisonous gas, trebuchets, armored vehicles covered in spikes, and magic--lots of magic; Konrad Kyeser's Bellifortis is an imaginative book that inspired the likes of Hans Talhoffer, and perhaps even Leonardo da Vinci. It's full of recreations of some of history's most obscure innovations, but these oddities weren't left to print, they were brought to life on the Renaissance and Medieval battlefields, and that's what we wanted to explore in this episode of l'Arte Dell Armi. To do so, we sat down with Michael Chidester to learn more about who Konrad Keyser was, and more about his fascinating work, Bellifortis. 

Images of Bellifortis: https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668178

To read Michaels work on Bellifortis, there is a free PDF download here: https://www.academia.edu/68328696/The_Bellifortis_of_Konrad_Kyeser_of_Eichst%C3%A4tt

Check out HEMA Bookshelf here: https://www.hemabookshelf.com/

Join Michael's Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/michaelchidester

 

Adendum: The siege where Alexander the Great supposedly used divers with diving bells was the siege of Tyre.